Journal
ONCOGENE
Volume 22, Issue 42, Pages 6484-6488Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/sj.onc.1206956
Keywords
DNA methylation; histone acetylation; cancer; immunotherapy; HLA antigens; tumor antigens
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Emerging evidences suggest that epigenetic events associated with tumor development and progression, such as deregulated methylation of CpG dinucleotides and aberrant histone acetylation, may impair the immunogenic potential of cancer cells. In fact, DNA hypermethylation and/or histone deacetylation contribute to the absent or downregulated expression of different components of the 'tumor recognition complex' (i.e., HLA class I antigens, cancer/testis antigens and accessory/costimulatory molecules) in solid and hemopoietic human malignancies. However, pharmacologic agents that induce DNA hypomethylation or inhibit histone deacetylation can modify these epigenetic phenomena, restoring the defective expression of selected components of the 'tumor recognition complex' in cancer cells. These antigenic modi. cations positively modulate the immunogenicity and the immune recognition of cancer cells, making epigenetic drugs attractive agents to design new combined chemoimmunotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer patients.
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